11. "Don't flame me for this..." In response to In response to 0
... but I honestly feel, from a historical perspective, people will see it this way:
Kanye West is to hip-hop what Miles Davis was to Jazz.
In regards to innovation, in regards to pushing himself beyond the borders of what is traditionally considered hip-hop, in regards to his cutting edge approach to producing tracks.
But he has more work to do- he started off good and fell victim to the party and materialism culture that is so prevalent in hip-hop.
I feel Kanye is out-of-touch with his original fan-base. I don't think he relates to the common person that is struggling, and that's a problem. He came down to visit Occupy Wall St. NY last year and the irony is that just months prior to that he released an album with Jay-Z that was based on his luxuries and lavish 1% lifestyle. Many Kanye fans can't relate or identify with that. And i personally feel it's a slap in the face to smear your riches in the faces of struggling people while we are in a recession.
He's also extremely confident, some would say arrogant. So was Miles.
I'm a longtime Kanye fan and truly believe that he's brilliant, but like all human beings, he's flawed.